Review Summary: I thought it was bad.
I’ll never forget the moment that I began to view Justin Timberlake not just as
the guy from NSYNC, but as someone I legitimately revered for his artistic merit. I know the expectation is for me to immediately segue into
The 20/20 Experience and gush about how it was a revolution for pop in the 2010s (I was there! It was!), but that moment came for me in 2006 with
FutureSex/LoveSounds. It felt like watching someone who was merely trying to prove his independence (
Justified) evolve into a slick, suited-up icon with grown man sex appeal and hooks for days. Sure,
The 20/20 Experience is what eventually converted me into a full-blown JT stan, but it was evident from quite early in his solo career that Timberlake had the potential to be something special, all while redefining what boy bands and their members are capable of in one fell swoop.
Then
Man of the Woods happened.
Listen, I get it – it was not a great album. In fact, it was probably his worst at the time. The vision to portray himself as some axe-wielding, flannel-sporting lumberjack-next-door while Jessica Biel creepily whispered in the background was dubious at best. However, particularly in hindsight, I can at least understand
why he did it. After conquering pop with
The 20/20 Experience, it made sense to see how far he could push his experimentation and in what direction(s). And honestly, country wasn’t the worst bet. There are still moments on
Man of the Woods that tempt me into thinking that the whole thing just got a bad rap, even if I’m fairly certain that I’m the only person alive (including Timberlake) who still regularly spins ‘Livin’ off the Land’ and thinks it’s actually gorgeous. But I digress, because all things considered,
Man of the Woods – even if well-intended – was more than just the inevitable letdown to follow a masterpiece…it was
so disappointing that it knocked his entire trajectory off course called his legacy into question.
The problem now, in light of
Everything I Thought It Was, is that with each successive poor outing, Timberlake’s early career success is beginning to look like more and more like a fluke. Not only is his sixth LP arguably worse than
Man of the Woods, I can’t even see the vision this time. There was no effort put into building a theme or sense of unity between tracks, and this album sure as hell isn’t trying to explore any new territory. It begs the question: what exactly was Justin trying to accomplish here? We all suspected that he would take a safer approach after his fifth LP landed as a colossal failure among critics and fans, but a seventy-seven minute hookless slog through recycled pop trends is not likely what anyone had in mind either. The album feels like the byproduct of an artist who had little to lose but still chose to play it safe anyway, while simultaneously aging out of his own scene thanks to a lethargic showing brimming with references that feel unironically dated. He was in a rut, and instead of trying his hand at another evolution, he retreated.
Amid the dense murk of
Everything’s ambitionless songwriting and boring melodies, few moments of promise do shine through, however sporadically. It’s a shame that ‘Play’’s funky, offbeat energy consumes just two-plus minutes of this thing’s enormous runtime, and that the raw honesty of ‘Memphis’ evaporates into thin air before it can become a motif. ‘Selfish’ is presumably a heartfelt ode to Timberlake’s wife, and despite its cliches, genuinely loving someone to the point of not wanting to share them – and singing about it in a ballad – will never go out of style. The rock crescendo on 'Sanctified' is something that's different for him, even if the studio version doesn't live up to his electric SNL performance from a few months back, while 'My Favorite Drug' is just fun and danceable enough to survive the cringe-inducing "hey fellas/hey ladies –
yeah" call and response. There are remnants of Justin’s classic charm to be found across
Everything I Thought It Was, but they’re like shards of an ancient relic scattered across a barren desert.
It’s nearly impossible to see the light outside of these few moments, where even the most dedicated fans are still required to meet Timberlake 80% of the way in order to garner any real pleasure. The self-referential 'F**kin up the Disco'
sounds like a classic Timberlake tune and is certainly produced like one, but fails to become memorable at any point (a fate that's even more painfully obvious on the nearly seven and a half minute 'Technicolor'). ‘No Angels’ has a danceable beat that sounds like it belongs in a nightclub, but the melody comes with the same side of amnesia as a night spent pounding shots at the liquor bar. 'Liar' again sees Justin going through the motions – DNA-wise, it has the makeup of a pre-
Man of the Woods song – but you’re truly blessed if you can recall anything about it afterwards. 'Infinity Sex' is mildly awkward lyrically (“infinity sex, girl / the future is a mess”) and once again offers nothing in the way of a real hook, while 'Love & War' has a nice chorus but wears its influences on its sleeve a bit too liberally. ‘Alone’ is devastatingly tedious and feels like a desperate swipe of the pen to check off that “heartfelt ballad” box that ‘Selfish’ already accomplishes far better – and only one track prior, no less. ‘Paradise’ digs NSYNC out of the grave to help prop up this bloated affair, but raises more questions than it answers – if JT was a part of NSYNC and goes solo only to bring the band back, is it
really “featuring NSYNC” or is it just a reunion track? Again, what was the goal here? Nostalgia? All roads lead back to what Justin Timberlake wanted this album to actually represent, and the more I listen to
Everything the more I’m convinced that the answer is
nothing. Maybe that’s okay. Not all pop albums need to be a plot to revolutionize pop music – but as someone who has – for the most part, anyway – viewed Timberlake as a gifted creator and genre visionary, it’s certainly disappointing to see him acquiesce so quickly and willingly after one poorly received experiment.
JT is undoubtedly a talented singer, and perhaps it’s unfair to place the burden of constantly reshaping pop squarely upon his shoulders. He gave us some truly iconic records in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and maybe that was
his time and now we’re on to someone else. However, even if that’s the case, I’m still barely able to pick apart the difference between most of these tracks – even after listening to the album several times. No matter how you spin it, that’s a big issue. One might have assumed that six years between releases would have been enough time, but it seems like Timberlake needs to sit down and truly think about where he wants to take his music for the rest of his life. Does he want to become something of a legacy act? That’s fine, he's earned as much – but write better songs with more memorable hooks. Hell, just keep creating summer jams like ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ and nobody will complain. Want to make it your mission to be viewed as someone who always kept pop on its toes, constantly remolding expectations? Then be able to deal with the occasional miss – because for as poor as
Man of the Woods was, at least it was ambitious…unlike whatever this amorphous clump of hackneyed trends is. I’d say Justin can’t afford to park himself in musical purgatory, but he can – and maybe that’s the most frustrating part. If this is the path for Timberlake’s artistic future, then
he's not everything I thought
he was.
